Selfies : Consumer behaviour and mass comunication

T.C.

YAŞAR UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION

MASTER THESIS

SELFIES; CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND MASS

COMMUNICATION

Zrinka PEHAREC

Thesis Advisor: Associate Prof. Dr. Melek ATABEY

19.08.2015

ii

T.C. YAŞAR UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF SCIENCES MASTER'S WITH THESIS THESIS JURY EXAMINATION REPORT

1 In this case, the student is given 3 months’ time. 2 This case will be dismissed from the student. 3 In this case, a new date will be set for the exam. 4 In this case, the Institute Board of Directors discussed if the student has an excuse certificate.

The student will be dismissed if the board does not accept the excuse. If the student has a valid excuse, the Board of Directors will give a new exam date.

iii

TEXT OF OATH

I declare and honestly confirm that my study, titled “Selfies; consumer behaviour and mass communication”, presented as a Master’s, has been written without applying to any assistance inconsistent with scientific ethics and traditions, that all sources from which I have benefited are listed in the bibliography, and that I have benefited from these sources by means of making references.

19/08/2015

iv ABSTRACT

This thesis focuses on the influence of a usage of the selfie as a postmodern way of communication. Selfie is a fast self-portrait, made with mobile devices and immediately distributed and inscribed into one or more of social networks. The photographic self-portrait is surprisingly common in the very early days of photography exploration and invention, when it was often more convenient for the experimenting photographer to act as model as well.

The aim of this thesis is to have a better understanding how through online representation of selfies new social phenomenon is born. The study also examines the process of communication through an image. This form of instant visual communication is accepted within social media users not only for private purposes, but often as a way of marketing promotional activities for private companies and institutions. The broader objective of this study is to contribute to the academic society to raise awareness about power of mass usage of images taken by oneself in order to send a message.

Selfies as a communication tool deserve much more critical attention than they have received to date. The first chapters address to the multiple interconnections between social media, self-portraits, self-representation, online mass behaviour and power. In addition, the recent research work done on this field of studies is combined with theoretical background based on philosophy, sociology and communications theories.

Qualitative research method has been applied in order to reach answers on research questions. An online survey was done with 214 participants, while an interview with another 10. Even though participants were from 6 different continents, it couldn’t be noticed that the habits towards selfie taking and posting were different. The goal was to provide fresh insights into development of social media and specific set of online visual communications.

Keywords: selfie, social media, self-portraits, visual communication, consumer behaviour

v

ÖZET

Bu tez, bir postmodern iletişim aracı olarak selfie’nin (özçekim) kullanımı ve etkileri üzerinde durmaktadır. Anlık ve hızlıca cep telefonları ile çekilen Selfie portreleri çabuk bir biçimde sosyal medyada yerini bulup yayılır. Fotoğrafla oluşturulan bu öz-portreler aslında fotoğrafın ilk günlerinden beri kendini keşfetme ve yaratmanın bir yolu olarak şaşırtıcı bir biçimde yaygın olmuştur. Fotoğrafla ilgili denemeler yapmak isteyen sanatçıları için bu çalışmalarda kendilerinin modellik ediyor olması da kolay ve elverişli bir yol olarak görülmüştür. Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, ‘selfie’ lerin internet üzerindeki sunum ve paylaşımlarının, yeni bir sosyal olgunun oluşumunun nasıl hazırlayıp etkiledikleri sorularına yanıtlar aramaktır. Çalışma ayrıca, bir resim aracılığıyla kurulan iletişim süreçlerini incelemektedir. Anlık görsel iletişim, sosyal medya kullanıcıları tarafından yalnızca özel nedenler dolayısıyla değil aynı zamanda özel şirket ve kurumların yaptığı tanıtım ve reklam etkinlikleri için kabul edilmektedir.

Araştırma ayrıca kişilerin kendilerinin çekip oluşturmuş olduklarını bu resimlerin kitlesel olarak kullanım ve paylaşımlarının gücü konusunda akademik bir farkındalık yaratmayı ve bu alana katkıda bulunmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bir iletişim aracı olarak ‘Selfie’, bugüne kadar üzerinde yapılan tartışmalarda çok da vurgulanmamış olan eleştirel bir bakış açısı ve ilgiyi hak etmektedir. Çalışmanın ilk bölümlerinde, sosyal medya, öz-portre, öz-sunum, internetteki kitlesel davranışlar ve iktidar arasındaki ilişki irdelenmektedir. Burada ayrıca konuyla ilgili yapılmış başka araştırmalara da değinilmekte, ve ayrıca araştırmanın teorik çerçevesi oluşturan felsefe, sosyoloji ve iletişim kuramlarına dayalı tartışmalara yer verilmektedir. Internet üzerinde gerçekleştirilen araştırmada 214 kişi ile anket , 10 kişi ile de derinlemesine görüşme yapılmıştır.ve paylaşımlarında çok büyük Görüşülen kişiler 6 farklı ülkeden gelmelerine rağmen selfie çekimlerinde ve paylaşımlarında hemen hemen benzer bir tutum içinde oldukları bulunmuştur. Buradaki amaç, sosyal medyanın gelişim ve kullanımına ve internet üzerindeki görsel iletişimin nasıl kurulduğuna dair yeni verilere ulaşmak olmuştur.

Anahtar sözcükler: selfie (özçekim), sosyal medya, öz-portre, görsel iletişim, tüketici davranışı.

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

O

Firstly I would like to thank to my advisor Associate Prof. Dr. Melek Atabey for being an inspiration for my work and research. Her guidance made this Thesis possible.

My respect and gratefulness to my Yaşar University, Faculty of Communications professors: Prof. Dr. Ümit Atabek, Doc. Dr. Duygun Erim, Doc. Dr. Huriye Toker, Doc. Dr. Dilek Kaya, Doc. Dr. Ayda Sabuncuoğlu Doc. Dr. Özlem Aşman Alikılıç. All of them made deep and strong influence on me. I enjoyed each and every second of their lectures and their work is an example and motivation for my future academic work.

I am thankful to University of Applied Sciences, Koblenz, RheinAhrCampus to Dr. Elmar-Laurent Borgmann and Andreas Jens Faulstisch for accepting my academic internship.

Furthermore I want to show appreciation to Facebook Group „Selfie research network“ led by Dr.Teresa Senft, New York University. The group was precious source of information and academic work from field of my research. The group was specially contributed by prof. dr. Bent Fausting, University of Copenhagen, in addition many thanks to him.

I want to thank to Ivica Bralić for giving me generous and an infinite help and support.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TEXT OF OATH……… iii

ABSTRACT………... iv

ÖZET………... v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……….... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS……….... vii

INDEX OF FIGURES……… x

INDEX OF TABLES……….. xii

INDEX OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS………... xiv

1. SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIETY………. 1

1.1. Introduction………. 1

1.2. Thesis Outline……….. 3

1.3. Research Issues and Approach………. 3

1.4. Research Objectives………. 4

1.4.1. Research Questions……….. 5

1.5. Theory……….. 5

1.6. Methodology……… 7

1.7. Data Collection………... 10

1.8. Significance of The Study……… 10

2. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE……… 12

2.1. Introduction……….. 12

2.1.1. The True Start of Wireless Connections……….. 12

2.2. The Theories of Social Media……….. 15

2.2.1. The Rise of Social Media………. 15

2.2.2. What is Social Media?... 17

2.2.3. History of Social Media………... 19

2.2.4. The Persecutors of Social Media……...………... 19

2.2.5. Company-Sponsored Social Networks………. 23

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont’d)

Page

2.2.7. Other Services Adopt Real-Time Updated……….. 27

2.2.8. The iPhone’s Role in Real-Time Updates……… 28

2.3. History of Self-Portrait………. 29

2.3.1. A Self-Portrait versus Mirroring Oneself………. 29

2.3.2. 'Selfie' and History of 'Selfie'………... 38

2.3.3. An Image – the Photography………... 40

2.3.4. Early days of ‘Selfies’………. 41

2.3.5. A short overview of ‘selfies’……… 45

2.3.6. The Selfies in the Self……….. 48

2.3.7. Psychology of Self-Portrait……….. 50

2.4. Approach in Social Media and Mass Communication Theories….. 53

2.4.1. From Mass Culture to Social Media Culture………... 53

2.4.2 . The Influence and Power of Social Media………... 56

2.5. Social Media and Consumer Behaviour………... 59

3. PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS……… 63

3.1. Introduction………. 63

3.2. Research Design………... 63

3.2.1. Previous Researches………. 66

3.2.2. Qualitative Research Analysis………. 68

3.2.3. Online Questionnaire………... 68

3.2.4. Phenomenological Interview……… 68

3.3. Definition of the Research Variables………... 69

3.3.1. Online Survey……….. 69

3.3.2. Interview……….. 70

3.4. Evaluation of the Research Finding………. 71

3.4.1. Findings From Online Survey Questionnaire……….. 73

3.4.2. Finding From In-Depth Interview……… 111

ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont’d)

Page

4.1. Introduction……….. 114

4.2. Discussion……… 114

4.2.1. Survey Analysis……….. 114

4.2.2. Interview Analysis………... 118

4.3. Summary of Major Research Issues……… 126

4.4. The Conclusion……… 127 BIBLIOGRAPHY……… 133 Books………... 131 Case studies………. 138 Popular sources……… 139 CIRRICULUM VITAE………... 143

App1 In-Depth Interviews………... 144

App2 Online Survey Q32……….181

App3 Online Survey Q33……….185

App4 Online Survey Q34……….189

App5 Online Survey Q35……… 193

x

INDEX OF FIGURES

FIGURE Page

1.1 Tesla's Tower……… 13

2.1 Odigo Messenger………. 21

2.2. Titian, Venus with a Mirror, c.1555……… 30

2.3a Albrecht Dürer, Self-portrait at age of 28, 1500………. 31

2.3b Self-portrait by Van Dyck, 1640/41……… 31

2.4 Parmigianino, Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror, c.1524……. 32

2.5a Mary Beale, Self-portrait, c. 1685……… 33

2.5b Rembrandt's Portrait of the Artist, c.1633……… 33

2.6 Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas, 1656……….. 34

2.7a William Hogarth, Self-portrait, c. 1757……… 36

2.7b Sir Joshua Reynolds, Self-portrait, c. 1747……….. 36

2.8a Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Self-portrait, 1847……….. 36

2.8b Isaac Rosenberg, Self-portrait, 1915……… 36

2.9 Frank Auerbach, Self-portrait, 1994–2001……….. 37

2.10 Robert Comelius, Self-Portrait, 1839……….. 42

2.11a An unidentified Edwardian woman, 1900……….. 42

2.11b Joseph Byron, Self-portrait by photographer, 1909………… 42

2.12 Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, 1914…… 43

2.13 Buzz Aldrin, The First Space Selfie, 1966………. 44

2.14a Nelson Mandela memorial service………. 45

2.14b Plane Crash Selfie………... 45

2.15a Double Mirror Selfie……….. 46

2.15b Extreme Selfie/Usie/Selfie Stick……… 46

2.15c Yaşar University, Professors’ Selfie………... 46

2.15d Dangerous Bear Selfie……… 46

2.15e Post Half Marathon Selfie……….. 46

xi

INDEX OF FIGURES (cont’d)

FIGURE Page

2.17 The most tweeted Selfie/Post ever……….. 59 2.18 Kobe vs. Messi: The Selfie Shootout………. 61

xii

INDEX OF TABLES

TABLE Page

2.1 A timeline of the foundation of selected online networks from

1997 to 2011……… 25

2.2 The Conversation Prism: a visual map of the SM landscape…. 27 2.3 The development of the self-media……… 39

2.4 World Internet Usage and Population Statistics……… 56

2.5 Number of social network users worldwide 2010-2019……… 57

2.6 Leading SN worldwide ranked by number of active users…… 58

3.1 Survey Characteristics……… 73

3.2 Country of origin of the entire survey participants……… 74

3.3 Gender of the interviewees……… 75

3.4 The highest level of Education………. 75

3.5 Age of the survey participants………... 76

3.6 Do you take selfies?... 77

3.7 What is your opinion about selfies?... 78

3.8 How often do you take selfies?... 79

3.9 For how long have you been taking selfies?... 80

3.10 Do you post selfies on any of the SM?... 81

3.11 How often do you post selfies on SM?... 82

3.12 Familiarity with selfie commercial campaigns………... 83

3.13 Selfie campaign participation………. 84

3.14 Do you ‘like’ other SM users selfie posted?... 85

3.15 Selfie Filters usage……….. 86

3.16 Social Media usage………. 87

3.17 Awareness about SM selfie posts……… 88

3.18 Place of selfie taking……… 89

3.19 Posting a selfie and playing a role……… 90

xiii

INDEX OF TABLES (cont’d)

TABLE Page

3.21 Posting selfie in intimate moments……… 92

3.22 Never posted types of selfies………. 93

3.23 Number of posted selfies……… 94

3.24 To look nice for a selfie………. 95

3.25 Hashtaging selfies posted……….. 96

3.26 Selfie embodiment………. 97

3.27 Ranked importance of posted selfie activities……… 98

3.28 Ranked desires for posting selfies………. 99

3.29 Ranked reasons for posting selfies……… 100

3.30 Ranked feelings with the number of likes………. 101

3.31 Selfie representation of reality……….. 102

3.32 Ranked bad feelings in correlation with selfie posting………. 103

3.33 Interviewees characteristics……….. 111

xiv

INDEX OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations

ARPA Advanced Research Project Agency of the USA UCLA University of California

UCSB University of Santa Barbara CERN European Laboratory for Particle Physics WWW World Wide Web

FTP File Transfer Protocol EMAIL Electronic Mail

IM Instant Messaging MSN Microsoft Messenger CNN Cable News Network SM Social Media

FB Facebook SNS Social Network Sites BBS Basic Bulletin System IRC Internet Relay Chat ICQ I seek you AOL American Online PC Personal Computer LOL Laughing Out Loud BRB Be Right Back HD High Definition

1

1. SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIETY

1.1. Introduction

J

The development of the mass media was in line with of development of the communications and information technologies. During the 20th century and now the 21th century, some form of media managed to enter almost every person’s life. As the mass media became more and more the most important source of information, people’ minds were and are still shaped and influenced by media texts1. At the beginning, newspapers and magazines, books, posters, commercials, later television programme with films, videos, cartoons, TV commercials were prominent; however, within the past two decades the Internet has shaped our virtual and physical reality. The Internet is the latest in a series of technological advances that has changed the world in fundamental ways.

All discourses and, all communication construct our reality. Every representation or description of the world around us is an attempt to describe or define that reality; in that sense this construction and selection, the order of details, communicate creator's view of the same reality. Media is an extended arm of people in power reaching those who have right to vote, to consume, to act, to choose, to live. As Devereux argues, it is essential that the concept of power be at the heart of any serious attempt at understanding the media (Devereux 2014:47).

1

…the best collective name for content and for cultural 'works' of all kinds: the programmes, films, records, books, comics, images, magazines, newspapers and so on produced by the cultural industries (Hesmondhalgh 2013:3).

2

Media is a medium which publicly represents an idea, event, knowledge, happening, person or people aiming to receive the trust of the recipients of that message. The role in its production process refers to everything that goes into making a media text – the technology, the ownership and economics, the institutions involved, the legal issues and the use of common codes and practices. Since the birth of press and later with the development of modern media, the dominant economic and political groups have used the mass media as way of organizing and controlling the society. Edward Bernays describes this in 1928:

“the minority had discovered a powerful help in influencing majorities. It has been found possible so to meld the mind of the masses that they will throw their newly gained strength in the desired direction. We are governed, our minds are melded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast number of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society” (Bernays 1928:9-19).

The different types of media represent different types of power on a certain time line. During the late 18th and the beginning of 19th century newspapers were the most powerful media known. Later with the emergence of television (TV) programming, TV become the unquestionably leading form. The film industry was established and Hollywood movies conquered the world. The themes of the movies would be entertaining by implementing present political situation. The messages were integrated to these works by the people in power.

Since the rise of the Internet, the World Wide Web and Social Media in the 1990's we are witnessing the radical rise of postmodern media power. New way of communication was followed by entry of smartphones in the mobile telephone market. Smartphones possess an unseen power of reachability and flow of information instantly. Today mobile technologies are accelerating changes of our behaviour by enabling users to participate in such. The ability to receive information in the palm of our hands allows, Social Media to change our way of living and contacting. Yet the rhetoric of a new public sphere was, and still is to some extent, gratefully appropriated by businesses salvage the virtues of the corporate sphere. J. van Dijck observes that an endorsed fusion of nonmarket and

3

for-profit principles breathes the spirit of public collectivism, a spirit espoused by those who regard the Web's technical infrastructure as an opportunity for opening up unimpeded social space (van Dijck 2013:16).

1.2. Thesis Outline

This thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter explores the purpose of this study including the approach adopted as well as issues to be considered. Further the theories and methodologies are explained along with importance of carrying out a study like this.

After second chapter is a review of the literature on Computer Science, Social Media, the History of Self-Portraits and Photography of Self-Portraits, Psychology of Self-Portraits, Mass Communication and Consumer Behaviour. This chapter highlights the theoretical background of the Social Media phenomenon as a new way of visual communication.

In chapter three, the research model and formulated hypotheses are presented, together with the research methodology, and data collection procedures.

Finally, chapter four presents the results of data analysis along with conclusion by discussing the main findings and implications for practitioners and researchers, the limitations of a research done, and future research directions.

1.3. Research Issues and Approach

The aim of this study is to carry out interviews and an online survey with Social Media users who frequently take and post selfies2 on one of the many Social Media Networks. The reason for doing in-depth interviews and surveys is to have a better understanding of how through the online representation of selfies a new social phenomenon is born. Social media is generally seen as an aspect of

2 _{"Selfie" was crowned as Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year for 2013. Selfie – the Oxford}

Word of the Year for 2013 – is a neologism defined as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website (Oxford Dictionary), 2014)

4

everyday life in modern culture, but most people in society do not seem aware of selfies from the prism of visual communication and an online behaviour pattern.

As Bernays argues, the mechanism by which ideas are disseminated on a large scale is propaganda, in the broad sense of an organized effort to spread a particular belief or doctrine (Bernays 1928:20). This thesis examines how selfies can be used as a visual communication tool used as propaganda for personal or institutional goals. As McLuhan (1964:26) points out, “the medium is the message”- In this case the selfie is the message, but the content of the selfie is a message within this message.

Social media users are constant selfie consumers. From the point of view of a consumer we may occasionally question what we see, what we read and what we hear. Therefore, the selfie is selected as a research item to monitor. An analyses focus on the social media users and their selfie posts. To monitor the selfie takers’ activity when posting those on social networks, qualitative content analysis will be employed.

In summary, the aim of this research is to assess the new visual communication tool used primarily in social media activities.

1.4. Research Objectives

The main objective of this study is to examine the reasons behind taking selfies. There are countless possible questions to ask the group representatives. Therefore, it is important to note which aspect is going to be highlighted in the analysis. This study seeks to find out what compels selfie takers to post certain images in the public sphere. The intention of this study is to answer the questions 'how'.

The study aims to answering the following questions:

 How are selfies used as a way of self-representation in the public?  How are selfies used as a way of mass communication?

5

 How were previous researches about selfies done?

 How are the notions of private and public transforming in this process?  How are selfies used as a way of marketing methods in order to reach

consumers?

 How are selfies creating symbol of virtual hyper reality?

Based on the above aims, this thesis investigates a number of issues. First, it seeks to find out about the relationship between social media and society. In examining the current situation of Social Media, the study operates on the view that the social media today rapidly changes the social media users’ behaviour.

1.4.1. Research Questions

Before the research was carried out, the following research questions and hypotheses were formulated to guide in the analysis of “Selfie: Mass Communication and Consumer Behaviour“

1. The first hypothesis is that taking and posting selfies comes from the narcissistic need of constant self-presentation.

2. The second hypothesis is that the publicity social media users’ posts reach with their online presence influences them directly in posting selfies on Social Media Networks. Selfies are for them a tool of visual communication.

3. Selfies are a tool for mass marketing communication in both private and institutional segments.

1.5. Theory

Although many perspectives have viewed the role of media in online presence, social media has the potential of impacting change. In order to carry out the literature review two phases were adopted; selecting and analysing.

The first phase began with a search of relevant publications. The author of this thesis joined an Online Selfie Research Group on Facebook…which was

6

founded by Teresa Senft to share bibliographies, disseminate new work, and curate specific selfie images. In the final word of the research done on selfies Losh states that their group has about two hundred members, most of whom are female scholars who identify as being feminist (Losh 2014:4). This is also a group of active academics, who are doing researches on the subject of selfies and are sharing them on Social Media within a similarly interested community. It is a closed group available to academic researchers only. Many research works were found within this particular group and helped build this thesis.

Yaşar University online library was the second database of choice because it incorporates with 24 other academic databases. Additionally Academi.edu and Allacademic.com, both Web of Science was the impact factor indicator. Preference was given to those articles that had been published by journals with an impact factor score.

Furthermore, a search was done by titles, abstracts, keywords, academic papers, scientific conference papers, book chapters, journals, magazines and workshop proceedings, yielding more than 70 articles. This was narrowed as follows. Literature about social media was selected dating from 2000-2015 so as to reflect the most recent synthesis of knowledge about computer sciences, photography, social media and selfies. Relevant articles were then selected based on their titles and abstracts. Finally, the full text of the remaining articles found to be most relevant was reviewed.

Besides theories of Social Media, Psychology and Society, the thesis mainly adopted a model of critical culture theories and critical behavioural theories. History of Self-Portrait, Mass Communication and Consumer Behaviour was dealt broadly in the second chapter of the study under the heading of theoretical perspective.

Firstly it was important to introduce the history of the Internet as a form of electronic communication, what is a base for development of Social Media Networks. Secondly theory of SMNs was presented and development of early social networks. This part is found to be the grounding part of behavioural

7

phenomenon once talking about SMs. Besides technological development theories, theories about history of self-portrait in classical paint-art were illuminated. The theory of ‘self’ and psychology of self-portrait as well as the ‘selfie’ theory was presented. Finally within the theory framework the theory of mass culture to social media culture within the mass communication theories was presented. Social Media is tightly connected with consumer behaviour what makes final subchapter of this theoretical framework.

1.6. Methodology

The aim of this thesis is to use qualitative research methods to better understand how a new social phenomenon is born throughout Social Media presentation of selfies and to give answers on research questions. In broad terms, M. Hennink et. al point out that qualitative research is an approach that allows you to examine people's experiences in detail, by using a specific set of research methods such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations, content analysis, visual methods, and life histories or biographies (Hennink et.al 2011:9).

The theoretical part of this thesis will be implemented within the research. Research will be done on two groups of selfie takers who meet the criteria. The first group of participants will consist of 15 to 20 people; they will participate in an online survey, while the second group will consist of 5 to 10 people and in-depth interview will be conducted. Both groups of participants are male and female, middle-class, from 20 to 60 years old, coming from different countries and continents; they are all active Social Media users on networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Socio-demographic data will be collected via a brief pre-interview questionnaire that will help find target group of people. A crucial requirement is they are actively posting selfie photographs and have been for the past year to three years period. One group will be given a survey while with other group an in-depth interview will be conducted.

Surveys are appropriate for research questions about self-reported believes or behaviour. W. L. Neuman states that researchers usually ask about many things

8

at once in surveys, measure many variables (often with multiple indicators) and test several hypotheses in a single survey (Neuman 2006:273). According to A.Rubin et. al questionnaires may be administrated in three basically distinct ways: (1) self-administrated questionnaires can be completed by the respondents themselves, (2) interviewers can administer questionnaires in face-to-face encounters, reading the items to respondents and recording the answers, and (3) interviewers can conduct telephone surveys (Rubin et.al. 2010: 129). A survey will be done with the previously-mentioned group of students by sending them e-mail with a web link to the survey. The online survey tool SurveyMonkey will be used with self-administrated questionnaires. Some of the questions will be based on -past experiences with selfie taking. For example, what kind of desires push people to take selfies or why do they take them, do they make selfies on public places or/and in private moments, do they post all selfies they take, is posting selfie an act of identification, do they expect their selfies to be liked and commented, and what are their social media expectations from posting a selfie.

The second component of this research is structured in-depth interviews. As C. Boyce et. al. state, in-depth interviewing is a qualitative research technique that involves conducting intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents in order to explore their perspectives on a particular idea, program, or situation (Boyce et.al. 2006:5). An in-depth interview will be carried out with social network users active in posting selfie photos. This specific method is chosen since it can provide, “detailed information about person's thoughts and behaviours or to explore new issues in depth” (Boyce et.al 2006:5). In-depth interviews may provide a more relaxed atmosphere where people will feel more comfortable having a conversation about selfies relative to filling out a survey. The key to successful interviewing is learning how to stimulate an informant to produce more information without injecting so much into the interaction that could result in a reflection of myself in the data. On the other hand limitations may occur. Qualitative methods often dislike small samples. However, “it should be noted that the general rule on sample size for interviews is that when the same stories, themes, issues, and topics are emerging from the interviewees, then a sufficient sample size has been reached” (Boyce et.al 2006:4).

9

Ten people will be interviewed. For all ten of them it is common that they are active selfie takers and active social media selfie posters. They are all grown up and independent. Their social media activities were observed by researcher for a year period and based on what has been observed, they were asked to give an interview. From the social and communication point of view, all ten participants’ behaviours researcher found specific and interesting. Therefore they were chosen.

The field interview is a joint creation between a researcher and a member. The interview will be carried out face-to-face, via mobile phone, via Skype and via Viber if an in-person production is not possible to arrange. Members are active participants whose insights, feelings, and cooperation are essential parts of a discussion process that reveals subjective meanings. Neuman points out that field researches ask three types of questions in a field interview: descriptive, structural and contrast questions (Neuman, 2006:421). In these structured interviews, the researcher follows an interview schedule – a specific set of instructions that guide those asking questions. A. A.. Berger points out that the instructions might tell what follow-up questions to ask if a question is answered in a certain way (Berger 2000:233).

Descriptive questions will be asked about time and space: Where do you take selfies? In what situations do you take selfies? Do you take more selfies while at home? Also questions about people and activities: Do you prefer taking selfies with friends? Do you do selfies in school, at work, on the street, in the bar, at concerts, during sports activities, on excursions? Furthermore descriptive questions will be asked like: Can you give me an example of a perfect selfie? Describe to me successful selfie story? What are your expectations when posting a selfie? Accordingly to descriptive answers structural questions will be formed, for example: Are there any types of selfies you wouldn't post on social media? What would make you post selfies of your intimate moments? Lastly the contrast questions builds on the analysis verified by structural questions. Neuman argues that questions focus on similarities or differences between elements in categories or between categories as the researcher asks members to verify similarities or differences. Why questions are to be avoided as much as possible because they

10

imply that there is a factual answer, or an interviewee would try to give a “right“ answer.

1.7. Data Collection

The data for this study was obtained by a qualitative content analysis of in– depth interviews and surveys conducted with active selfie takers and active social media users who met certain criteria. The sample population includes both males and females. The in-depth interview takers are belonging to middle-class and to different national identities such as Croatian, German, Czech, Jordanian, American, Canadian, Namibian and Australian. The age scale of this group varies from 20 to70. Survey group of selfie takers belongs mostly to a group of students and young in employment coming from Croatia, Germany, Jordan, Rumania and 30 other countries. The age scale of majority participants is between 20 to 35 years old.

Secondary data was obtained from books, journals and other studies carried out by researchers in the field of social sciences, communications and visual communications studies, social media, sociology, psychology, philosophy, art history and computer studies. The research findings were evaluated according to mass media theories and the psychology of self-representation.

1.8. Significance of The Study

The contributions to this research are threefold. Firstly, there are not many empirical studies about selfies even though Social Media has been around for certain period of time. Social Media research has mainly been based on descriptive studies; this exploratory research attempts to contribute towards Social Media studies by using empirical data. Thirdly, few studies have been conducted based on this new visual communication tool as a mass communication tool.

The results of this study are significant in several ways. The non-existence of research in this field which analyses reasons of selfie takers as well as the results of such visual communication is a driving force for this thesis. Therefore,

11

it is expected that the findings of this study will add more knowledge to the growing awareness about the power of the mass usage of images taken by oneself in order to send a message.

This study should be of interest to the general public, students, social media researchers, media professionals and community managers.

The finding of the study will help to define this new visual form of communication, and the power of the messages sent to the public via Social Media canals.

12

2. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

2.1. Introduction

2.1.1. The True Start of Wireless Connections

"When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket" (Keneddy, 1926).

The words quoted above are from the interview with Tesla by J.B. Keneddy in 1926. In his book on Tesla R. Lornas writes that Nikola Tesla, the scientific genius who invented inter-alia, the fluorescent light, how light can be harnessed and distributed, seismology, a laser, and a mechanical laxative. Tesla accepted to sign up an agreement on 10th of December 1900 with J.P. Morgan for 150,000 thousand dollars to fifty-one percent of the global patent based on "wireless technology" which Tesla eventually create (Lomas 2006:125). J.P. Morgan backed Tesla to build a tower that would use the natural frequencies of our universe to transmit data, including a wide range of information communicated through images, voice messages, and text. This represented the world's first wireless communications, but it also meant that aside from the cost of the tower itself, the universe was filled with free energy that could be utilized to form a world wide web connecting all people in all places (The 10 Inventions of Nikola Tesla That Changed The World), 2014).

It is hard to locate precisely the date of the rise of Internet rather it was a process, “created by a collection of visionaries and executed by hundreds of individuals whose contributions helped develop the technology” (Bidgoli et.al 2004:114). We can argue that the rise of Internet started from Tesla's visions and later work on wireless technology to the “memex” of Vannevar Bush. Bush in the famous Atlantic Monthly article from 1945 envisioned a system for rapid dissemination and organization of scientific information, instantly available to all who seek. The “memex” was to be a “transparent platen” on which books, pictures, periodicals, newspapers, longhand notes, photographs, and other

13

information would be provided to anyone who had access to the machine and knowledge of its index system (Bidgoli et.al 2004:114).

Figure 1.1: Tesla's Tower – To Draw Millions of Volts of Electricity Through the Air From Niagara Falls and Then Feed It Out to Cities, Factories and Private Houses from the Tops of the

Towers Without Wires.

Source: Aether force; Open Source Living Science

The early 20th-century was marked with technology inventions from the telephone, the radio, the talking motion picture, neon lamps, motorized movie cameras, the super heterodyne radio circuit, robots, the first 3-D movie, the dynamic loudspeaker, the mechanical and later electronic TV system, colour television to early computers like ENIAC. On the other hand the situation in the world at the time was the Cold War,a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Western Bloc and those in the Eastern Bloc. This situation influenced the bringing together the desire to increase communication across distance and the desire to efficiently process information. These combinations become “a matter of national defence and prides” (Bidgoli et.al 2004:114).

14

B. Eunson writes that the online world began in 1969 when the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) of the US Department of Defence developed ARPANET, a computer network that facilitated communication between researchers at dispersed locations and also provided a communication system decentralised and robust enough to take over should a nuclear attack disrupt conventional, centralised systems (Eunson 2008:203). The military’s sole concern was not strong, because it had its own network and “didn't really want anyone else on it. Communications-hungry scientists did care, because they wanted to trade information in the service of scientific progress” (Poe 2011:213). The idea was to build a network of networks that would allow scientists to communicate with any other scientists regardless of which network he or she was using. The idea became reality, and the Internet was bigger and more accessible than ARPANET. It became possible to exchange message files and run some programs.

The first computers connected were those between “four sites - each with its own particular research specialities: UCLA, the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), Stanford Research Institute, and the University of Utah” (Bidgoli et.al 2004:117). R.H. Zakon states that the connection between UCLA and Stanford was a success, and the remaining two nodes, one at UCSB, and one at the University of Utah, were working by the end of the year (Zakon 1993:112).

As stated in the work of Bidgoli et. al, Tim Berners-Lee was a research fellow at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in Switzerland in the late 1980's (Bidgoli et.al, 2004:121). Eunson also states thata large part of the Internet as we know it today was developed in 1989 in CERN (Eunson 2008:203). As M.T. Poe points out Tim Berners-Lee set about designing a way to make the Internet useful as a collaborative tool and figured out that what people really wanted out of a network was access to things on computers, not computers themselves (Poe 2011:214). Since Berners-Lee's invention wasn't financially supported, he finally received it from NeXT computer started by Steve Jobs. Bidgoli et.al mention also that Berners-Lee found that much of what he needed to create his World Wide Web (WWW) hyperlinking software was available on his NeXT computer (Bidgoli et al. 2004:121).

15

Writing on Internet and other forms of electronic communication Eunson points out that “the Internet, which is in fact a network of networks, facilitates a number of forms of electronic communication including electronic mail (or email), the WWW, newsgroups, or online discussion/chat groups, file transfer protocol (FTP)(links to data files), instant messaging (IM)(real-time chat between identified individuals)” (Eunson 2008:203).

Bidgoli argues that in the years following 1995 the Internet, the WWW, and related technologies became a part of the public consciousness (Bidgoli et.al 2004:121). Traditional media slowly started to realise that the Internet and the WWW were the future of their existence. The Internet experienced rapid growth through the 90's and 2000's. According to the Internet World Stats, in December of 1995 only 0,4% of world population were Internet hosts, where as of June of 2014 it is estimated that 42,3% of world population are now connected (Internet World Stat), 2015). As McLuhan (1967:63) argued in 1967 “Time has ceased, space has vanished. We now live in a global village a simultaneous happening”. Nowadays not being present on line is equal to not being publicly present at all. The rise of the Internet was and is a base for the next stage of online communications in the world. In terms of modernity, the way of being publicly present and how to communicate is called Social Media.

2.2. The Theories of Social Media

2.2.1. The Rise of Social Media

Most of the people surrounding me have registered several profiles on Social Media platforms. A good example of a social media user would be Aya a 21 year old undergraduate student of Logistics and E-Business from the German Jordanian University who is spending an exchange student year (2014/2015) in Germany.

Since the very early age of ten Aya started to use MSN messenger, and three years later she opened her first Social Media account on Facebook. She uses a wide variety of Social Media platforms on a daily basis, such as Facebook,

16

Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, Google+, YouTube and Skype. Aya also downloads music via iTunes.

She frequently uses Wikipedia as a source of information, and, as a young undergraduate seeking professionalism, she uses LinkedIn to expand the network of her future field of business. She finds LinkedIn useful for presenting herself in a business manner on the labour market. In addition to that, her brother considers Wikipedia only as an encyclopaedia what helps him with his studies.

At the moment Aya has an internship at a leading German automobile company and noticed that her employers checked her profile on LinkedIn before giving her the position. In order to highlight her presence in the labour market she opened a Xing account as well. Aya was advised to do this as the website is widely used among the German business community.

Through AcademiEdu she is following professors and researchers from academic circles in her field from all over the world. She also uses Twitter and Google+ to connect with her international friends, while through Snapchat she connects mostly with friends from her home university, checking their daily activities. She also finds Snapchat useful for watching CNN news channels. Aya enjoys adding many famous people and follows how they spend their private time.

She uses Instagram to follow photos posted by her family and peers from her home University and high school in Amman, Jordan. She finds Instagram useful for following the latest fashion icons and sports in order to get more ideas for her daily and evening image. She prefers accounts called “Beautiful Destinations”, and “Awesome Inventions”.

Aya uses Facebook to read world news, to keep in touch with her friends and family either to look at the photos they posted, write on their walls or share some news on their wall. The comments she posts are frequently written in either Arabic, English, German or French. She uses Facebook chat daily for chatting with FB (Facebook) friends and also has installed the FB chat application for her

17

iPhone. She connects through FB groups extensively: an internship vacancies and accommodation search.

Aya admits that she spends most of her free time online using SM (Social Media) platforms to interact with her close circle of family and friends or for her daily needs.

With Pinterest Aya chooses her outfits. She checks the latest clothing tips and ideas. She also gets ideas on how to organize her room and calendar, especially now that she is experiencing living abroad and on her own for the first time. Aya says she loves Pinterest because it gives her an option to find specifically what she’s looking for. For example, she writes „outfit with leather skirt“ and gets pictures and ideas for such combinations with various specifications.3

2.2.2. What is Social Media?

Social online networks as a phenomenon originated as a consequence of Internet usage and its further development. The internet is no longer a place of receiving, providing, using, and sharing information; it is now a virtual space of socialisation. In everyday life a group of friends is a social network, which leads to the next point that a social network can serve many purposes. Cities, universities, schools, courses, businesses and sports groups are all forms of social networks. H. U. Buhl points that already about 400 years before Christ, Aristotle described human beings as zoon politicos – a character with the fundamental need of searching and creating communities (Buhl 2008:81). We define “social network as a cluster of people connected for a specific reason” (Ryan 2011:4). With development of technology such as telephone, radio, telegraph, and internet the difficulties of distance were overcome. Individuals or a group of individuals are able to communicate across the planet in a real time. This communication evolution resulted in social groups that had never existed before. E. Giaccardi

3

18

claims that social media and technology support new ways of engagement with the physical and social settings of the heritage (Giaccardi 2011:9). The social media network “we speak of today has fostered an entirely new category of social networking Web sites and behaviours that provide many opportunities” (Ryan 2011:6) that we never experienced before.

Social Network Sites are “web-based services that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system” (Boyd & Ellison 2008:211). SNS enable users to make their social networks visible as well as allow them to communicate “with people who are a part of their extended social network. People who use social networks are called users and the social networks themselves are applications” (Ryan 2011:7).

Most sites support the maintenance of pre-existing social networks, but others help strangers connect based on shared interests, political views, or activities. Some sites cater to diverse audiences, while others attract people based on a common language or shared racial, sexual, religious, or nationality-based identities. According to Boyd et.al., sites also vary in the extent to which they incorporate new information and communication tools, such as mobile connectivity, blogging, and photo/video-sharing (Boyd et.al. 2008:210).

The basic structure of any Social Network Site is a visible profile with an articulated list of friends who also use the same system. During the registration of one's profile an individual needs to fill out forms answering a series of questions. Typically, questions are asked about name, contact, age, location, and personal interests. Most sites have a specific place in the profile for a personal photo of identification or a visual self-representation. Photos can be uploaded into albums. A comment, a photo or a video can be posted on the main wall. Other users known as friends can like, share, or comment on that post.

19

2.2.3. History of Social Media

Although the social media have become popular and widespread in 2000s, its history goes back to the end of 1970s. On a web page on the Social Media, H. Voyles describes its development as follows:

“In 1978 two Chicago computer hobbyists invented the BBS - a basic bulletin system where they could share information with friends through postings before the dawn of the World Wide Web, which was developed by mentioned British engineer, Time Berners-Lee at CERN. CERN donated the technology to the international public in 1993. CERN's donation prompted the development of the first graphical browser, Mosaic, in 1993, by students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. By 1997, there were 200 web servers online, and they hosted a million sites, among them, perhaps the first social network, SixDegrees.com, which let users create profiles and list friends. Google opened as an Internet search engine in 1998. Friends Reunited, often referred to as the first online network to achieve prominence, emerged in Great Britain” (Voyles, 2014).

Sharing information via distance through the computers has been initiated by enthusiastic individuals, and like happened in the other technological developments it has become public and later commercial. What follow in the next parts of this chapter are the origins of the internet and the social media, and the ways in which they have evolved being publicly and commercially used mediums.

2.2.4. The Persecutors of Social Media

The formation of IRC (Internet Relay Chat) by Jarkko Oikarinen in August 1988 is considered crucial point in the history of the first social media network. As Borders states, it was notably used to break news relating to the Soviet coup attempt during the media blackout and keep tabs on the first Gulf War (Borders, 2009). It was used for file sharing, link sharing, and otherwise keeping in touch. It was really the father of instant messaging as we know it today.

In 1996 four Israeli technologists invented the instant messenger (IM) system for desktop computers called I seek you (ICQ). Voyles writes that this was quickly purchased by American Online (AOL) and it became a mainstream hit (Voyles, 2014). It was the first instant messaging program for Personal Computers

20

(PCs). It was at least partly responsible for the adoption of avatars, abbreviations (LOL, laughing out loud, BRB, be right back) and emoticons. Other IM clients soon followed.

The first recognizable modern social network site was launched in 1997 under the address SixDegrees.com. Dating sites are considered the first social networks. The first dating sites started cropping up almost as soon as people started going online. On this social network site it was possible for user, “to create profiles, list their Friends, and, beginning in 1998, surf the Friend lists” (Boyd et.al. 2008:214). Each of these features existed is some form before, but this site was the first to combine them all. At that time, the end of the nineties, few people were active Internet users and having Friends on a list didn't bring too much interaction. Besides, Friends were strangers, and most users didn't find it appealing to meet a stranger.

Odigo Messenger first became available in 1998. It was an early social networking service based on instant messaging. The service was done in a way that members would use a ‘people search’ function. People would be searched for based on preferences (age, gender, location, interest etc.). The goal of this social network was to form friendships. Odigo offered many unique, advanced real-time communication and navigation features, including dynamic buddy lists, voice messaging, content channels, wireless connectivity, e-mail alerts, chat-on-page, co-surfing, offline messaging, message history archives, visibility filters, and Web site note posting. Later Odigo carried multiple brands during a spell of affiliations with different Web service providers such as ICQ, MSN Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger. Odigo was purchased for an estimated $20 million by the Israeli company Comverse Technology in 2002. It eventually shut down the free service in 2004 abandoning millions of loyal users (Odigo Messenger, 2015).

21

Figure 2.1: Odigo Messenger.

Source: depokafe.files.wordpress.com

LiveJournal started in 1999 and took a different approach to social networking. While Six.Degrees.com allowed users to create a basically-static profile, LiveJournal was a social network built around constantly-updated blogs.

On LiveJournal, people mark others as Friends to follow their journals and manage privacy settings (Boyd et.al. 2008:215).

Major advances in social networking began when Ryze.com was launched in 2001 to help people leverage their business networks (Boyd et.al 2008:215). In particular, the people behind Ryze, Tribe.net, LinkedIn and Friendster were tightly entwined personally and professionally. P. Festa points out these networks believed that they could support each other without competing (Festa, 2003). In 2002, Friendster reached 3 million users just three months after launching. Friendster was really the first modern, general social network. C. Chapman also documents that, Friendster, founded in 2002 is still a very active social network, with over 90 million registered users and 60+ million unique visitors each month. Most of Friendster’s traffic comes from Asia (90%) (Chapman, 2009). Meanwhile, AOL had 34 million users. MySpace, a virtual clone of Friendster, was launched in 2003, and LinkedIn followed. The number of Web pages topped 3 billion

22

(Voyles, 2015). In the end, Ryze never acquired mass popularity, Tribe.net grew to attract a passionate niche user base, LinkedIn became a powerful business service, one of the first mainstream social networks devoted to business, and Friendster became ”one of the biggest disappointments in Internet history” (Chafkin 2007:1). Originally, LinkedIn allowed users to post a profile (basically a resume) and to interact through private messaging. Gradually, other features were added, including groups, question and answer forums, and advanced profile features, including real-time updates.

Hi5 is another major social network, established in 2003. While Hi5 is not particularly popular in the U.S. “Hi5 was adopted in smaller countries in Latin America, South America, and Europe” (Boyd et.al. 2008:218).

MySpace was founded in 2003 and by 2006 had grown to be the most popular social network in the world. MySpace differentiated itself from competitors by allowing users to completely customize the look of their profile. Users could also post music from artists on MySpace and embed videos from other sites. Originally, MySpace allowed communication through private messages, public comments posted to a user’s profile, and bulletins sent out to all of the user’s friends. Boyds observes that as the site grew, three distinct populations began to form: musicians/artists, teenagers, and the post-college urban social crowd (Boyd et.al. 2008:217). Blogs are also a big part of MySpace profiles, with each member automatically getting a blog.

Facebook “was designed to support distinct college networks only. Facebook began in early 2004 as a Harvard-only SNS” (Cassidy, 2006; by Boyd et.al. 2008:218). Beginning in September 2005, Facebook expanded to include high school students, professionals inside corporate networks, and, eventually, everyone (Boyd et.al. 2008:218). In 2008 Facebook became the most popular social networking site, surpassing MySpace, and continues to grow. Facebook has added a number of features over the past few years, including instant messaging/chat and apps, (and their developer platform). Users have a few different methods of communicating with one another. Private messaging is available as well as writing on another user’s wall. Wall posts are visible to that

23

user’s friends, but usually not to the general public. Users can easily change their privacy settings to allow different users to see different parts of their profile, based on any existing relationships; the basic privacy settings are “only friends”, “friends of friends”, and “everyone”. Users can post notes that are visible to all of their friends. Users can also comment on or, “like” the posts of their friends, and conversations often occur within the comment sections among multiple people.

Writing on Multiply, one of the other major social networks, Chapman states that a “family-friendly” social network and media sharing site was established in 2004 and puts much more emphasis on security and privacy than many other networks. Multiply users have the option to set security levels on each item they post, making them public, network-only, or invite-only (Chapman, 2009).

Orkut, launched in January 2004, is Google’s social network, and while it didn’t gain popularity in the U.S “Orkut became the premier SNS in Brazil before growing rapidly in India” (Madhavan, 2007; by Boyd et.al. 2008:216-217). Orkut lets users share media, status updates, and communicate through IM.

Kontain, launched in 2008, works differently than many social networks. It allows users to follow each other through photos, videos, and music, rather than just simple status updates. Kontain actively recruits businesses to sign up and, promote their service as a way of connecting with customers.

Niche social networks, like Ning are platforms for creating niche social networks. Networks are hosted by Ning but can take on their own personality and can even pay to have their own branding instead of the Ning brand (Chapman, 2009). The biggest advantage was that it made it incredibly simple for non-technical users to set up their own social network.

2.2.5. Company- Sponsored Social Networks

Authonomy, as Chapman states (2009), is one example of the company-sponsored social networks. It is a writers’ network hosted by the UK division of

24

Harper Collins that has attracted thousands of hopeful writers from all over the globe, but plenty of other companies have created their own networks as well.

Media Sharing SNs were Phtotobucket, Flickr, YouTube and Revver. Photobucket was the first site for photo sharing. It was launched in 2003. Photobucket allows users to share photos publically or in password-protected albums. Photo bucket also hosts video content.

Flickr has become a social network in its own right in recent years. They claim to host more than “3.6 billion images as of June 2009” (Chapman, 2009). Flickr also has groups, photo pools, and allows users to create profiles, add friends, and organize images and video into photo sets/albums. One of Flickr’s major advantages is that they allow users to license their photos through Creative Commons, as well as retaining all copyrights. Flickr has also launched a collection called “The Commons”, which features archived photos and images from a variety of museums and other institutions under a “no known restrictions” license, (meaning the photos are believed to be in the public domain).

YouTube was the first major video hosting and sharing site, launched in 2005. Users can upload, view and share video through YouTube or by embedding them on other websites (social networks, blogs, forums, etc.). YouTube now allows users to upload HD videos, and recently launched a service to provide TV shows and movies under license from their copyright holders. YouTube’s major social features include ratings, comments, and the option to subscribe to the channel of a user’s favourite video creator.

Revver took a slightly different approach to video hosting and sharing. While YouTube, Metacafe, and most other video sharing sites let you post videos for free and don’t pay content creators for any advertising revenues their videos generated, Revver has been sharing revenue from the start. Revver “splits the revenue generated by a video 50/50 with that video’s creator. Some other video sharing and hosting sites are moving in this direction of revenue sharing, but Revver still remains the primary one that does it with all content on the site “ (Chapman, 2009).

25

Table 2.1 A timeline of the foundation of selected online social networks from 1997 to 2011.

Source:Academia.edu: Online social networks; A survey of a global phenomenon

2.2.6. Social news and bookmarking

Delicious (aka, Del.icio.us) is a social bookmarking site founded in 2003. Chapman (2009) argues that it allows its users to bookmark any content they find online, tag that content, and then share it with other users. Users can tag bookmarks and search accordingly. Delicious allows users to view the most popular content among other users, as well as up-and-coming content, not unlike most social news sites.

Digg was founded in 2004. Digg users can share links to anything online and other users can vote that content up (“dig”) or down (“bury”). Users can also comment on content posted by others and keep a friends list. Digg has undergone a lot of controversy in its day; including criticism regarding the power the top 100 Digg users have over what becomes popular on the site. “The “Digg Effect”— when content makes it to the front page, thereby sending a huge influx of traffic to that site, often overloading its servers—is also well-known and often frustrating to those unprepared for the sudden popularity” (Chapman, 2009).